Delphos St. John’s Takes Advantage of Opportunities, Outscores Minster 46-30

By Bruce Monnin

DELPHOS — Any coach will tell you there are only a finite number of chances to make things happen in a football game. The Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays scored touchdowns each of the first seven times they crossed midfield, while the Minster Wildcats did so on only four of their eight opportunities in their own territory, while giving up three turnovers and being stopped on downs on three other occasions. That summed up St. John’s 46-30 victory.

“I think they found out what we’ve been talking about since the Celina scrimmage,” stated Blue Jay coach Todd Schulte. “When you are across the fifty you have to capitalize, and we were able to do that tonight.”

“It was a great team effort,” continued Schulte. “Especially our kickoff return team, as we were set up in field position all night long.” Indeed, after kickoffs, St. John’s averaged starting on their own 45-yard line while Minster’s average start was 17 yards further back, at their own 28.

The Wildcats took the opening kickoff but fumbled the ball away as soon as they crossed midfield, setting up the Blue Jay’s first score of the night, a one-yard run by Aaron Reindel. Minster then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and St. John’s capitalized five plays later on a ten-yard pass from Jacob Youngpeter to Timothy Kreeger, making the score 14-0.

The defenses took over until Minster recovered a fumble in Blue Jay territory, setting up their only score of the first half, a five-yard run by Jared Huelsman. St. John’s responded with another score on a Reidel six-yard run to make the lead 21-6, then stopped the Wildcats at the Blue Jay 13-yard line before half.

The second half saw an early offensive explosion, as six touchdowns were scored in the first 12:10. On St. John’s opening drive, Youngpeter threw to Eric Vogt for a 15-yard score that opened up a 27-6 lead. Minster answered with an 81-yard drive of their own, capped by a four-yard plunge by Bryce Schmiesing.

The tide seemed to turn more in the Wildcat’s favor when Alex Lehmkuhl blocked a Blue Jay punt. Huelsman ran for an 18-yard score on the next play and the gap closed to 27-22.

After a kickoff return to midfield, St. John’s scored again with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a two-yard carry by Reindel on fourth down. Minster answered 20 seconds later when Huelsman connected with Jonathan Niemeyer on a 73-yard-deep strike. Huelsman’s third straight two-point conversion brought the Blue Jay lead to just 33-30.

Not to be outdone in the quick strike department, St. John’s again returned the kickoff to near midfield, then Youngpeter ran 52 yards on the ensuing play to open the lead back to nine points. Minster would not score again while the Blue Jay’s tacked on a three-yard Reindel touchdown run to make the final score 46-30.

Much of the game and especially the second half seemed like a duel between the two opposing quarterbacks. Youngpeter ran the ball 14 times for 171 yards and a score and completed seven passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Huelsman countered with 24 rushes for 137 yards and two scores, 13 completions for 171 yards and a touchdown, plus his three two-point conversion runs.

With the win, Delphos St. John’s improves to 2-1 and has matched their one MAC victory from last season. They will next travel to 2-1 Versailles. Minster falls to 2-1 for the season (0-1 in MAC play). The Wildcats return home next week to face 2-1 Marion Local.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Delphos St. John’s 14 7 12 13 46

Minster 0 6 24 0 30

First Quarter:

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 1 yd run (Matthew Miller kick), 3:56

DSJ – Timothy Kreeger 10 yd pass from Jacob Youngpeter (Matthew Miller kick), 1:18

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jared Huelsman 5 yd run (kick failed), 4:15

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 6 yd run (Matthew Miller kick), 1:36

Third Quarter:

DSJ – Eric Vogt 15 yd pass from Jacob Youngpeter (kick blocked), 10:04

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 4 yd run (Jared Huelsman run), 6:30

MIN – Jared Huelsman 18 yd run (Jared Huelsman run), 4:42

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 2 yd run (pass failed), 0:27

MIN – Jonathan Niemeyer 73 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Jared Huelsman run), 0:07

Fourth Quarter:

DSJ – Jacob Youngpeter 52 yd run (kick failed), 11:50

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 3 yd run (Matthew Miller kick), 5:39

Team statistics DSJ MIN

First downs 20 19

Rushes - yards 49-312 34-185

Passing yards 109 171

Comp - att - int 7-11-0 13-22-1

Total yards 421 356

Punts - average 2-22.5 1-34.0

Fumbles - lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties - yards 6-29 1-10

Time of possession 27:33 20:27

Individual statistics

Rushing: Delphos St. John’s, Youngpeter 14-171, A Reindel 28-126, Schwinnen 1-9, C Reindel 5-6; Minster, Huelsman 24-134, B Schmiesing 9-40, Heitbrink 1-8

Passing: Delphos St. John’s, Youngpeter 7-11-0-109; Minster, Huelsman 13-22-1-171

Receiving: Delphos St. John’s, Kreeger 3-48, Vogt 2-30, Hulihan 1-30, A Reindel 1-1; Minster, Niemeyer 8-143, Lehmkuhl 3-28, I Schmiesing 1-3, B Schmiesing 1-(minus 3)